Our spies have sent us a video with a fleet of 2017 BMW 5-Series prototypes conducting winter testing.

Our spies have sent us a video with a fleet of 2017
BMW 5-Series prototypes conducting winter testing.

The cars were wearing a production body judging by the new
door handles, front air vents and most importantly by the new layout of the A
pillar. Also noticeable is a horizontal character line running over the doors
while the rear window appears to be flatter. Infiltrated among the 5-Series
prototypes is a camouflaged next-gen
7-Series recognizable not only by its larger proportions but also by the bigger
exhaust tips and the more exposed production-ready taillights.

Both cars are bound to ride on the new 35up platform and in
the case of the 5-Series this should enable a massive 100 kg (220 lbs) weight
loss as a result of making extensive use of lightweight materials including
aluminum and carbon fiber. Reports say the significant weight loss could allow
BMW's engineers to install a three-cylinder engine sourced from the 2-Series
Active Tourer and Gran Tourer brothers although it's hard to believe there's
going to be a three-cylinder "5" acting as the entry-level model.

A plug-in hybrid version has already been spied
while a quad turbo M550xd is apparently in the pipeline. The range will once
again be topped by the M5 which will allegedly offer around 626 HP (460 kW) and
will likely be sold with an optional all-wheel drive layout.

The BMW 5-Series Sedan will reportedly go on sale in June
2016 and will be followed by the 5-Series Touring in November of the same year.
The much criticized 5-Series Gran Turismo will be back because Chinese love it.